A Florentine Architect Paints Fabrics with Flair in Tuscany

After leaving Florence for an intense career in architecture and graphic design in Milan, Francesca Gaultieri, returned to her native Tuscany to create an artisan workshop. She paints, dyes and silkscreens fabrics for making whimsical bags, pillows, clothes and linens by hand. Every piece is one of a kind, deliciously unique.
Entirely self-taught from reading on the internet, Francesca loves experimenting. She is currently using vegetal fabrics (hemp, linen and cotton) but is eager to try working with protein fabrics like wool. She only started a year ago, but word is getting around. She quickly sells out of anything she makes and for good reason. Each piece seems to carry the joyous vitality that she exudes.

In this video, she toured me around the shop, which is also her studio.

It is located in an old butcher shop (macelleria in Italian) which she renovated. She calls it Un Macello.

It is tucked into the main street of a tiny hill town, which was quietly resting on the hot summer afternoon that I visited.

Called, Montisi, the village is between Florence and Rome overlooking the Val D’Orcia, south of Siena.

Francesca is bringing new energy and flair to a place, which is already known for its artist and artisans. She lives a few kilometers from the village with her husband, Momo Brubeck, who manages Il Colombaio di Momo, a vacation rental.

I learned about Francesca and her work when I went for a cooking class with Raffaella Cova, who was wearing a dress Francesca had made from hand-painted linen and who set the table with Francesca’s hand-painted table mats. (Read more) The two women were friends in Milan, and their work here in Tuscany goes hand in hand.

For information about visiting Un Macello in Montisi or finding out more about Francesca’s custom home design and fashion design work, contact her at francesca.gualtieri@gmail.com and let her know that you read about her on Uncorked In Italy.